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Fantastic description of a helicopter flying job. The standby experience is no different from any other commercial (unscheduled) flying job but I am sure the co

by zzless 7y ago

Fantastic description of a helicopter flying job. The standby experience is no different from any other commercial (unscheduled) flying job but I am sure the competition is more intense. It has always been a mystery to me how helicopter pilots come into existence at all: it takes at least $30,000 in expenses (more if you are starting from scratch) to get the first useful rating (commercial) and then (I judge from my experience) no one would hire you since you do not have enough hours, no matter how dangerous the job might be. Instruction is one way but even then no one would even talk to you before you have at least 300 hours. Some tour pilots I know fly for $8 an hour to get the 1000 hours required for any real commercial job (like flying for an oil company and such). The author owns her helicopter so that is a bit different but now you have the associated risk and pressure to pay for your investment. My fixed wing ratings paid for themselves relatively quickly but I am still trying to get a helicopter job to pay for the rotorwing part. This article gave me some good ideas ...

nradov 7y ago
A lot of helicopter pilots come into existence through the military.
- zzless 7y ago
  Of course, but I do meet a lot of the ones that didn't. Those guys have a lot of perseverance, although many of them, just like me started in fixed wing.
gbacon 7y ago
My fixed wing ratings paid for themselves relatively quickly … You must have gone a path other than immediately to CFI after you got your commercial fixed — or your idea of relatively quickly is a little more patient than mine.
- zzless 7y ago
  Of course I do have a CFI, CFII, and MEI and they help. To pay off the $1000's spent on training, though, instruction is not enough, the only way is to fly in some inhospitable places: think Alaska, South America. One of my friends went to fly in Afghanistan for three months. While a bit extreme, that gig paid for all his ratings and a lot more, and gave him a lot of very valuable experience. I picked Alaska since I would rather be cold than to be shot at ...
  - Infernal 7y ago
    Between being cold and being shot at.... I'd have to see the comp package first!
mbrameld 7y ago
I'm working my way though helicopter ratings right now. I finshed my private and instrument and am starting the commercial rating in a couple weeks. I'm using my GI Bill to pay for the training, it's way too expensive to justify doing it this late in life otherwise. There are 2 routes to paying for flight training with the GI Bill that I'm aware of: through an "institute of higher learning" (usually a community college) or directly through a flight school. If you go with the first option, the VA will pay for the whole thing as long as your PPL instructors are employees of the college. If you go directly through a flight school the VA will only pay the lesser of $10,000/year or the actual cost of training. Another benefit of going through a college is that the degree program has higher minimum flight hour requirements than the rating itself. At the school I went through, you had to fly 75 hours to finish the PPL semester even if it only took you 50 hours to get through the check ride. That means when you finish with CFII you have enough hours to start instructing right away. If you are a veteran with post-9/11 GI Bill benefits remaining and want to be a pilot, now is an incredible time. The job market is booming and you can get the training free. Even if you have to pay out of pocket for the PPL (which I have heard has become the case since I started) it's still amazing.

by zzless 7y ago

nradov 7y ago

A lot of helicopter pilots come into existence through the military.

zzless 7y ago
Of course, but I do meet a lot of the ones that didn't. Those guys have a lot of perseverance, although many of them, just like me started in fixed wing.

gbacon 7y ago

My fixed wing ratings paid for themselves relatively quickly … You must have gone a path other than immediately to CFI after you got your commercial fixed — or your idea of relatively quickly is a little more patient than mine.

zzless 7y ago
Of course I do have a CFI, CFII, and MEI and they help. To pay off the $1000's spent on training, though, instruction is not enough, the only way is to fly in some inhospitable places: think Alaska, South America. One of my friends went to fly in Afghanistan for three months. While a bit extreme, that gig paid for all his ratings and a lot more, and gave him a lot of very valuable experience. I picked Alaska since I would rather be cold than to be shot at ...
- Infernal 7y ago
  Between being cold and being shot at.... I'd have to see the comp package first!

mbrameld 7y ago

I'm working my way though helicopter ratings right now. I finshed my private and instrument and am starting the commercial rating in a couple weeks. I'm using my GI Bill to pay for the training, it's way too expensive to justify doing it this late in life otherwise. There are 2 routes to paying for flight training with the GI Bill that I'm aware of: through an "institute of higher learning" (usually a community college) or directly through a flight school. If you go with the first option, the VA will pay for the whole thing as long as your PPL instructors are employees of the college. If you go directly through a flight school the VA will only pay the lesser of $10,000/year or the actual cost of training. Another benefit of going through a college is that the degree program has higher minimum flight hour requirements than the rating itself. At the school I went through, you had to fly 75 hours to finish the PPL semester even if it only took you 50 hours to get through the check ride. That means when you finish with CFII you have enough hours to start instructing right away. If you are a veteran with post-9/11 GI Bill benefits remaining and want to be a pilot, now is an incredible time. The job market is booming and you can get the training free. Even if you have to pay out of pocket for the PPL (which I have heard has become the case since I started) it's still amazing.